Mike Blair made a try-scoring debut for Scotland against Canada on the 2002 North American tour, having already won honours at Schools, U19, U21, Sevens and 'A' levels by the time he won his first Test cap, aged 21.

He would go on to enjoy a glittering ten-year international career during which he won 85 caps, skippered Scotland on 14 occasions, toured with the British & Irish Lions in 2009 and become the only Scottish player thus far to be nominated for IRB Player of the Year award (2008).

Blair called time on his international career on the eve of the 2013 Six Nations in order to open the selection door for other players as he did not believe the 2015 Rugby World Cup is a "realistic personal target". He retired as Scotland's most-capped scrum-half and his country's third-most capped player of all-time.

A product of The Edinburgh Academy, Edinburgh Accies and Boroughmuir RFC, Blair also enjoyed ten years with Edinburgh (which he shared with his brothers David and Alex) before embarking on a new chapter in his career by signing for French club Brive at the start of the 2012-13 season.